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transport costs from fares to 70% was also fulfilled in 2017. "Another requirement, that a presidential decree should be passed to approve the decision-making procedure for local authorities on placing consistently insolvent community-owned agricultural enterprises in trusts, was also excluded from the conditions of the tranche, as an earlier decision has been made to place such enterprises in trusts based on separate presidential resolutions," the EFSD added i the statement.
6.2 Debt
Source: CEIC
Belarus - Gross external debt 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Gross external debt (USD bn) 131,628 133,602 145,982 160,653 152,642 152,327 155,443
Gross external debt (% GDP)
53.0 54.6 50.7 51.9 58.1 76.1 74.8
As of 1 December 2018, Belarus' external debt totalled $16.8bn, up by $70.3mn or 0.4% from the beginning of the year (taking into account differences in currency exchange rates), BelTA learned from the country's Finance Ministry. In January-November 2018, external state borrowings totalled $2,112.4mn, including $797.5mn borrowed from the Russian government and banks, $600mn in eurobonds, $361.3mn from Chinese banks, $200mn from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD), $138.5mn from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and $15.1mn from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB). Since the beginning of the year, Belarus spent $1,883.1mn to repay the external debt, including $800mn in eurobonds, $374.9mn paid to Chinese banks, $374.3mn to the Russian government, $264.8mn to the EFSD, $65.4mn to the IBRD, $2.7mn to the US Commodity Credit Corporation, and $1mn to the EBRD and the NIB. As of 1 December 2018, Belarus' government debt totalled BYN45.6bn, up by BYN3.4bn or 8.1% from 1 January 2018. The internal government debt amounted to BYN9.7bn as of 1 December. Taking into account differences in currency exchange rates, the internal government debt rose by BYN489.5mn or 5.3% from the beginning of the year. In January-November 2018, the Belarusian government placed $338.3mn worth of domestic government bonds nominated in foreign currencies to corporations and individuals and redeemed domestic government bonds nominated in foreign currencies and Belarusian rubles for corporations ($309.8mn) and individuals (BYN26.1mn).
Fitch estimates that government debt (including guarantees) rose to 55.7% of GDP at end-2017 , still below the 'B' median. Belarus's debt is highly exposed to currency volatility (90% is FC-denominated), and interest rate risk (50% floating rate). Fitch includes government guarantees, estimated at 10.1% of GDP, in its total debt calculations, due to the high likelihood that the government will need to meet state-owned enterprises' repayment obligations.
Near-term external financing risks have declined due to the pre-financing in 2017 of payments due in 2018 through market and official borrowing, and
28 BELARUS Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com